Opposition Overview: Perth Glory

2015/16 saw five contrasting battles between these teams and John van’t Schip’s men will play their first home match of the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season against Perth Glory.

City will face Perth in Round 3 of the competition on Saturday 15 October after an opening away fixture to Wellington Phoenix and a massive Melbourne Derby at Etihad Stadium in Round 2.

The Club’s impressive home record against the Glory will look to continue this season with two home fixtures as Kenny Lowe’s side returns to Melbourne on Tuesday 27 December.

The two teams wrap up hostilities in the last round of the season as City make the trek across the Nullarbor to take on Perth at nib Stadium where they will look to finish the season on a high note before potentially competing in the Finals Series.

City capped off their battle against Perth throughout 2015/16 in style as a Bruno Fornaroli double secured the side’s passage to the Semi Final. It was only a month before Perth were the in-form side of the competition, dismantling City at nib Stadium, but a big home crowd and a sprinkle of class from the Uruguayan allowed van’t Schip’s side to have the last laugh.

With two fixtures at AAMI Park in 2016/17, City will take confidence into both matches, unbeaten at home against Perth on the past seven occasions. If the contests between the sides give any indication, there will be goals and plenty of action between the sides in the three fixtures this season.

After a tight Melbourne Derby loss, City travelled to Perth on a Wednesday night for a FFA Cup Semi Final. City conceded in the 24th minute and were forced to make an early change as Tando Velaphi left the field bloodied from a clash with Guyon Fernandez. Although City pegged one back through a debut goal to Matthew Millar, an own goal by Ben Garuccio and a second half strike to Chris Harold sealed the result that saw Perth progress to the final.

Everything just went right for City in late November when they put Kenny Lowe’s side to the sword at AAMI Park. Five different goalscorers found the back of the net as goals to Erik Paartalu, Bruno Fornaroli and Connor Chapman saw City take a two-goal cushion into the break with Sidnei’s strike just before the break pegging one back for the visitors. The late goal didn’t phase John van’t Schip side as Harry Novillo and Aaron Mooy added to the tally after the break seeing City begin a run of four games where they found the back of the net 16 times including a famous Melbourne Derby win.

It was an eventful mid-January fixture that saw Melbourne City lead in Perth twice only for the Glory to work their way back for a point. Erik Paartalu was the man again to give City the lead in the early stages of the match but Diego Castro’s brilliant set piece saw the sides level at the break. Aaron Mooy and Bruno Fornaroli combined to give us the lead early in the second half as Chris Harold fired from close range to secure an important point for the Glory.

After an impressive winning run that saw the Glory win the last 10 of their 11 regular season matches, Perth showed how important momentum was in the A-League with a commanding performance at home. In a tense first half, the floodgates opened after the break as Andy Keogh, Gyorgy Sandor and Diego Castro put Kenny Lowe’s side 3-0 to the good in a whirlwind 15 minutes. A brilliant individual effort from Bruno Fornaroli and a injury time goal to Marc Marino made the final minutes nervy for the hosts but Perth secured their place in the Finals with three points.

In the Club’s first home final, it was the Bruno Fornaroli show as an ‘El Tuna’ brace secured City’s passage to the Semi Final in a commanding performance. The two stand-out moments of the match were Fornaroli’s stunning finishes as an overhead kick and a brilliant set-piece wrapped up the result in front of 11,273 fans at AAMI Park. The home side were in control from start to finish with the Glory missing chances to work their way back into the match but City were triumphant, progressing to the penultimate match of the season.